Energy Open Space
What will Lewes be doing to save and generate energy when the fossil fuel era closes?
Saturday 23rd June 2007, Market Lane Garage
Today we held the most energy efficient conferences ever held in Lewes.
At 8am the giant door to Old Market Lane Garage opened to a cavernous empty space. By 10am, the conference was set up, people started to arrive and make cups of tea. At 10.10 the conference had begun. There were about 20 people attending, who were invited to create their own agenda in response to the question What will Lewes be doing to save and generate energy when the fossil fuel era closes? Fifteen minutes later, the agenda was set, and the conference began.
By the end of the day we had a great set of ideas and questions, fuel for the emergent energy group of Transition Town Lewes. Howard Johns, contact person for that group, ran a successful session on forming a Lewes Energy Services company, owned by Lewes for Lewes. Half an hour after the circle closed, the papers were down, the space was cleared and we closed the doors.
Conference input: some hours of preparation; some delicious food; some paper; electricity for two lightbulbs and the electric door.
Conference output: one bag of paper and food waste for composting; one handful of non-compostable waste; community building, imagineering some great initial ideas.
I will be telling my grandchildren a great story about this day, when a small band of ordinary local people got together to begin to plan how Lewes will make its transition away from fossil fuels by generating its own power from current sunlight.
If you’re interested in joining the energy group and attending meetings contact Howard Johns:
07719 181010, howard@positivepower.co.uk
Energy group page
Click on the links below for summaries of the conferences and the closing session.
Energy services coop - community-owned renewable energy
Low budget energy saving at home and community energy saving
Twinning with an exemplar town in Europe
Energy storage and independence from the grid
Poetry, stories, how to reimagine our future and support each other through change
What role do plants have in producing energy for fuel?
Get involved: contact one of the Group contacts on the Groups page
